Study information

Programme Specification for the 2024/5 academic year

BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing with Employment Experience Abroad

1. Programme Details

Programme nameBA (Hons) English and Creative Writing with Employment Experience Abroad Programme codeUFA4EGLEGL25
Study mode(s)Full Time
Part Time
 Academic year2024/5
Campus(es)Streatham (Exeter)
 NQF Level of the Final Award6 (Honours)

2. Description of the Programme

A combined degree in English and Creative Writing at the University of Exeter enables you to concentrate more fully on creative writing within the context of a literature degree. Storytelling in all its forms is more central to our lives than ever before, and learning to write poetry and fiction and life-writing will unlock the pleasures of reading and writing literature in new ways. You will study current practitioners of prose, poetry and dramatic writing from around the world in order to find out what inspires us to write, and thereafter how to write beautifully, whether your subject matter is attached to fantasy epics or modern day issues such as power, sexuality, ethics, migration, identity, magic, food, globalisation and religion. You will emerge from this programme as an experienced writer with an informed understanding of writerly techniques, of voice and tone. Your understanding of the works of other writers from around the world will change profoundly as you learn to analyse, interpret and challenge traditional forms.

Exeter has one of the largest and most vibrant English departments in the country, and with the Creative Writing team you join an experienced group of tutors who have developed a friendly and dynamic community in which to live and study. Our Creative Writing Society is run by students who organise a lively and sociable series of events to support emerging writers and creators.

For English, Exeter ranks in the top 100 universities in the world. The English side of the programme will introduce you to over 1,000 years of the written word, from epic medieval verse to Renaissance drama, from the Victorian novel to the experiments of literary modernism, and we also offer modules the contemporary cultural industries and digital culture. Our world-class teaching staff will nurture your natural talents and enthusiasm for English literary studies, but more importantly they will challenge you to think differently. Modules are taught by staff with expertise in literature from the Middle Ages to the present. Our programmes at Exeter encourage you to ask challenging questions about the nature of literary and other texts. When you read Troilus and Criseyde and Jane Eyre, you will be prompted to ask not only what they mean, but also how they make those meanings. Who were they written for? How do they compare with other works of the same or different periods? How do they relate to the historical and social conditions in which they were produced? At the end of three years, you will have acquired a wide and detailed knowledge of English. You will also have developed into the sort of independent, self-motivated researcher who is ready for postgraduate study and for a broad range of graduate employment.

From a vibrant city centre location, with coast and countryside on your doorstep, you will hone your skills to become an accomplished independent researcher and a compelling writer.

This combined-honours programme equips you with a solid foundation of transferable skills including communication, persuasion, problem-solving, critical analysis and collaborative working. As part of the Creative Writing component of the degree, you will know how to write fiction and creative non-fiction to a professional standard.

This programme is studied over four years. The first two years and the final year are university-based, and the third year is spent gaining employment experience at a suitable location abroad.

This Employment Experience Abroad variant of the programme is a great way to incorporate graduate-level work placement or placements undertaken outside of the United Kingdom directly into your programme of study, to reflect critically upon these experiences, and for them to count towards the assessment of your degree. There is no better way to gain valuable employment experience that can be rewarded and recognised clearly by future employers. With preparation, support and approval from the College of Humanities, including in foreign languages if required, you can also demonstrate adaptability and resourcefulness by organising suitable placements in areas of employment related to your interests and potential future career. This variant of the programme also provides a great way to demonstrate to employers your adaptability, cultural awareness, independence and resourcefulness. Experiencing the differences and similarities of education and people in another culture will increase your confidence and broaden the ways in which you see and relate to the world and the world of work.

You are required to find your own placement with suitable employers and organisations with preparation, support and approval from the Faculty. If you are taking this variant you are strongly encouraged to take HUM2000 or HUM2001 (Humanities in the Workplace) at stage 2 and must participate in the pre-departure briefing sessions for Humanities Employment Experience Abroad. You will also take two preparatory modules in Stage 1 and 2.

Advice and guidance on your programme can be sought from your personal tutor and programme director. All staff offer regular office hours that you can drop into without a prior appointment for this purpose.

3. Educational Aims of the Programme

The programme will offer you a structured framework of study in which you follow a balanced and complementary range of modules, with sufficient choice to ensure that you are able to follow individual pathways in both learning how to write, and studying what others have written. The programme aims to:

  • enable you to develop independent critical thinking and judgement.
  • engage you imaginatively in the process of understanding and analysing complex and sophisticated literary and non-literary texts.
  • introduce you to a wide range of creative writing techniques over a broad variety of forms.
  • promote an understanding of narrative creativity and the formal and aesthetic dimensions of texts.
  • promote a sense of the complex social, cultural, and aesthetic interactions between the production and reception of literary and non-literary texts.
  • encourage you to acquire the critical tools necessary to reflect upon the writing and reading of literary and non-literary texts.
  • develop a range of subject specific and transferable skills, including high order conceptual literacy and communication skills of value in graduate employment.
  • provide an intellectually stimulating and satisfying experience of learning and studying, whilst encouraging a sense of the distinctive social and cultural importance of story-telling, of poetry, of global literature and film.
  • provide you with a variety of approaches (both traditional and innovative) to teaching and learning, and a lively and supportive studying environment which stimulates enjoyment and independent study;
  • provide a broad and challenging intellectual training and a foundation of personal and key skills for those students entering the world of work on graduation, together with a suitable basis for those who wish to pursue further research in the relevant subject or subjects.
  • use the research expertise of staff to promote a stimulating interaction between writing and critical research within the flexible modular course structure created by the Faculty.
  • enable you to become reflective and autonomous independent writers and researchers.
  • foster in you an understanding of Creative Writing as a discipline, as a craft-based art form, within the context of the history of global literature, religion and philosophy, and promote awareness of the issues involved in studying other cultures and different periods of history.
  • promote an understanding of the current state-of-play in the field of Creative Writing, by way of looking at the contributions of individual authors and texts worldwide.
  • offer you a range of options at the higher stages of the programme in order to allow you to specialise in your chosen forms, which will enable you, within the boundaries of a coherent degree programme, to develop your own particular skills and interests.
  • encourage you to acquire the critical tools necessary to reflect upon the production and reception of texts.
  • provide an intellectually stimulating and satisfying experience of learning and studying, whilst encouraging a sense of the distinctive social and cultural importance of English.
  • provide a basis for further study in English or related disciplines, and for teachers of English at all levels.
  • develop a range of subject specific, academic and transferable skills, including high order conceptual literacy and communication skills of value in graduate employment and to enable you to develop your career paths through these means.

4. Programme Structure

The BA English and Creative Writing with Employment Experience Abroad is a four-year full-time programme of study at National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 6 (as confirmed against the FHEQ). The programme can also be studied part-time in up to seven years. This programme is divided into four stages. Each stage is normally equivalent to an academic year.

5. Programme Modules

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/studyinformation/

You may take optional modules as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module. You are expected to balance your credits in each stage of the programme, taking 60 credits from English, and 60 credits from Creative Writing. Across Stages 1 and 2 you must take at least 90 credits each from Creative Writing and English in order to gain a sufficient understanding of both disciplines.

You may take elective modules up to 30 credits outside of the programme in any stage of the programme as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module.

Stage 1

90 credits of compulsory modules, 30 credits of optional modules

Compulsory Modules

a – You may pick one of these modules

CodeModule Credits Non-condonable?
EAS1035 Beginnings: English Literature before 1800 30No
EAS1042 Write after Reading 30No
EAS1016 Digital Creativity [See note a above]15No
EAS1044 Imagine This: Prompts for Creative Writing [See note a above]15No
EAS1040 Academic English 15No
HAS1905 Employment Experience HASS 0No

Optional Modules

CodeModule Credits Non-condonable?
EAS & CW Stage 1 Option Modules 2023-4
EAS1032 Approaches to Criticism 30 No
EAS1034 Film Studies: An Introduction 15 No
EAS1037 The Novel 15 No
EAS1038 The Poem 15 No
EAS1040 Academic English 15 No
EAS1041 Rethinking Shakespeare 15 No
HUM1001 Enter the Matrix: Digital Perspectives on the Humanities 15 No

Stage 2

60 credits of optional English modules and 60 credits of optional Creative Writing modules

 

Compulsory Modules

CodeModule Credits Non-condonable?
HAS2905 Employment Experience HASS 0No

Optional Modules

Subject to choosing 120 credits for the stage overall, you must:

a select 60 credits from this list of optional Creative Writing modules. You must choose EITHER EAS2031 or EAS2032. (You may choose both modules).

b select 0-30 credits of optional modules from this group (subject to choosing 60 credits in total from groups 1, 2 and 3 of English options).

c You may select 0-30 credits of optional modules from this group (subject to choosing 60 credits in total from groups 1, 2 and 3 of English options).

d You may select 0-30 credits of optional modules from this group (subject to choosing 60 credits in total from groups 1, 2 and 3 of English options).

NB EAF2510 Adaptation: Text, Image Culture can be taken as either Creative Writing or English credits.

CodeModule Credits Non-condonable?
EAS & CW Stage 2 Creative Writing Option Modules 2024-5 {see note a above]
EAS2031 Creative Writing: Building a Story 30 No
EAS2032 Creative Writing: Making a Poem 30 No
EAS2089 Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future 30 No
EAS2090 Humanities after the Human: Further Adventures in Critical Theory 30 No
EAS2113 Culture, Crisis and Ecology in a Postcolonial World 30 No
EAS Stage 2 Pre-1750 Option Modules 2024-5 {see note b above]
EAS2026 Desire and Power: English Literature 1570-1640 30 No
EAS2036 Theatrical Cultures in Early Modern England 30 No
EAS2071 Chaucer and His Contemporaries 30 No
EAS2080 Renaissance and Revolution 30 No
EAS2102 Satire and the City: English Literature 1660-1750 30 No
EAS Stage 2 Post-1750 Option Modules 2024-5 {see note c above]
EAF2510 Adaptation: Text, Image, Culture 30 No
EAS2029 Revolutions and Evolutions 19C Writings 30 No
EAS2103 Modernism and Modernity: Literature 1900-1960 30 No
EAS2104 Crossing the Water: Transatlantic Literary Relations 30 No
EAS2106 Romanticism 30 No
EAS2116 Empire of Liberty: American Literature of the Long Nineteenth Century 30 No
EAS Stage 2 Neutral Option Modules 2024-5 {see note d above]
AHV2018 Comics Studies: Histories, Methodologies, Genres 30 No
EAS2031 Creative Writing: Building a Story 30 No
EAS2032 Creative Writing: Making a Poem 30 No
EAS2089 Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future 30 No
EAS2090 Humanities after the Human: Further Adventures in Critical Theory 30 No
EAS2113 Culture, Crisis and Ecology in a Postcolonial World 30 No
LIB2000 Think Tank 15 No
HUM HUM2000-HUM2001
HUM2000 Humanities in the Workplace 30 No
HUM2001 Humanities in the Workplace 15 No

Stage 3

120 credits of compulsory modules

Compulsory Modules

CodeModule Credits Non-condonable?
HUM3997 Employment Experience Abroad 120Yes

Stage 4

30 credits of compulsory dissertation modules, 90 credits of optional modules ensuring you take 60 credits of Creative Writing module and 60 credits of English modules.

 

Compulsory Modules

Subject to choosing 120 credits for the stage overall, you must:

e select either EAS3003 or EAS3122 or EAS3510 (you can only select one of these modules). If you select EAS3003 or EAS3510 you must take 60 credits from this list of optional Creative Writing modules. If you select EAS3122, you must take 60 credits from this list of optional English modules.

 

CodeModule Credits Non-condonable?
EAS3003 Dissertation [see note e above]30No
EAS3122 Creative Writing Dissertation [see note e above]30No
EAS3510 Dissertation by Collaborative Project [see note e above]30No

Optional Modules

f select 30-60 credits from this list of optional Creative Writing modules (if you select EAS3003 or EAS3510 you must take 60 credits from this list of optional Creative Writing modules; if you select EAS3122, you must take 30 credits from this list of optional Creative Writing modules).

g select 30-60 credits from this list of optional English modules (if you select EAS3122 you must take 60 credits from this list of optional English modules; if you select EAS3003 or EAS3510, you must take 30 credits from this list of optional English modules).

 

CodeModule Credits Non-condonable?
EAS & CW Final Stage Creative Writing Option Modules 2024-5 [see note f above]
EAS3128 Writing the Short Film 30 No
EAS3191 Writing for Children and Young Adults 30 No
EAS Final Stage Option Modules 2024-5 [see note g above]
EAS3128 Writing the Short Film 30 No
EAS3131 Advanced Critical Theory 30 No
EAS3181 Visual and Literary Cultures of Realism 30 No
EAS3182 Encountering the Other in Medieval Literature 30 No
EAS3191 Writing for Children and Young Adults 30 No
EAS3198 The Death of the Novel 30 No
EAS3225 'Reader, I Married Him': The Evolution of Romance Fiction from 1740 to the Present 30 No
EAS3237 The Rise of Science 30 No
EAS3245 The 21st Century Museum 30 No
EAS3252 Poison, Filth, Trash: Modernism, Censorship and Resistance 30 No
EAS3311 Piracy in Early Modern Literature, 1570-1730 30 No
EAS3408 Poetry and Politics 30 No
EAS3415 The Development of British Childrens Literature 30 No
EAS3421 Picturing the Global City: Literature and Visual Culture in the 21st Century 30 No
EAS3500 American Counterculture in Literature 30 No
EAS3502 Shakespeare and Crisis 30 No
EAS3503 Migration, Literature and Culture 30 No
EAS3504 Surrealism and its Legacies 30 No
EAS3507 Writing Song Lyrics 30 No
EAS3414 Jane Austen: In and Out of Context 30 No
EAS3194 Resource Fictions: Oil, Water and Conflict in the World-System 30 No
EAS3196 Charles Dickens: Novelist, Journalist and Reformer 30 No
EAS3228 Romance from Chaucer to Shakespeare 30 No
EAS3253 Modern Irish Literature: Rebels and Radicals 30 No
EAS3312 Adventures in Technique (Poetry) 30 No
EAS3100 Hardy and Women Who Did: the Coming of Modernity 30 No
EAS3246 Food and Literature in Early Modern England 30 No
EAS3509 From Pen to Printed Page: Exeter's Literary Archives 30 No
EAS3511 'Mad': cultures, histories, phantasies, imaginaries of mental distress 30 No

6. Programme Outcomes Linked to Teaching, Learning and Assessment Methods

Intended Learning Outcomes
A: Specialised Subject Skills and Knowledge

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
On successfully completing this programme you will be able to:		Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be...
...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class):...and evidenced by the following assessment methods:

1. Identify English and Creative Writing as broad subject disciplines.
2. Identify, evaluate and appreciate the variety of approaches, techniques and critical traditions taken within both disciplines.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of recurring themes in both disciplines, such as class, gender, ethnicity, religion and war;
4. Understand and deploy a variety of techniques in Creative Writing over a variety of forms.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of texts and their critical contexts, and relate them with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history.
6. Identify and evaluate the distinctive character of texts produced in the principal genres and traditions across the historical range of English and Creative Writing.
7. Appreciate and describe how texts produce and reflect cultural change and difference.
8. Demonstrate knowledge of the cultural and socio-historic contexts in which texts have been produced, presented and consumed.
9. Apply critical terminology and, where appropriate, methodological, linguistic, stylistic, and/or formal terminology to the study of English and Creative Writing, utilising appropriate bibliographical style.

ILOs 1-9 are acquired through lectures, seminars, workshops, study groups, tutorials and other learning activities throughout the programme. The degree of specialisation of subject knowledge increases during the programme, culminating in the dissertation or final project. Modules at stage 4 are most closely related to the research specialism of the staff teaching the module. The precise method of teaching varies according to each module. On team-taught modules you will normally engage in both lectures and seminar groups. In smaller options you will normally spend most of your contact time in seminar groups and workshops. Your learning is further developed through engagement with assessments, following guidance from tutors and lecturers and through feedback on work submitted.

The assessment of these skills is primarily through course work in Creative Writing, and in English a combination of presentations and participation in seminars, log-books, web-based assessments, essays, exams, other written reports/projects, and furthermore a dissertation. Essays, exams and presentations are especially significant within the programme because they assess each of the ILOs, 1-9. The assessment criteria pay full recognition to the importance of the various skills outlined.

Intended Learning Outcomes
B: Academic Discipline Core Skills and Knowledge

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
On successfully completing this programme you will be able to:		Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be...
...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class):...and evidenced by the following assessment methods:

10. Apply critical skills in the writing and close reading and analysis of texts.
11. Articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to English and Creative Writing.
12. Demonstrate sensitivity to generic conventions and creative writing techniques, and to the shaping effects upon communication of circumstances, authorship, textual production and intended audience.
13. Demonstrate responsiveness to the central role of language and visual media in the creation of meaning, and a sensitivity to the affective power of language and visual media
14. Communicate effectively and construct a coherent argument in both oral and written presentations.
15. Command a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology.
16. Apply bibliographic skills appropriate to the discipline, including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of conventions in the presentation of scholarly work.

These skills are developed throughout the programme in all modules, with the emphasis becoming more complex as you move from stage to stage. They are developed through lectures and seminars, written work, and oral work (both in presentation and seminar discussion), and reinforced through the range of modules across the programme. They will culminate in the substantial and independent research skills demonstrated within the dissertation

The assessment of these skills is through a combination of presentations and participation in seminars, log-books, web-based assessments, essays, exams, other written reports/projects, and a dissertation or final project.

Intended Learning Outcomes
C: Personal/Transferable/Employment Skills and Knowledge

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
On successfully completing this programme you will be able to:		Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be...
...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class):...and evidenced by the following assessment methods:

17. Apply advanced literacy and communication skills in appropriate contexts including the ability to present sustained and persuasive written and oral arguments.
18. Analyse and critically examine diverse forms of material, both textual and visual.
19. Acquire and interrelate substantial quantities of complex information of diverse kinds, in a structured and systematic way, and involving the use of the distinctive methodological and interpretative skills of the subject areas.
20. Apply research skills for the retrieval of historical material, and develop the ability to gather, sift and organise this material independently and critically, evaluating its significance.
21. Interrogate and apply a variety of theoretical positions, and weigh the importance of alternative perspectives in a critical and self-reflective manner.
22. Exercise independent thought and judgment.
23. Engage with others through the presentation of ideas and information in groups, and work towards the collective negotiation of solutions.
24. Plan and execute written and other forms of project-work over both short and long timescales.
25. Complete tasks under time-constrained conditions and effectively manage deadlines and targets.
26. Employ information-technology skills, including the ability to access and assess electronic data via the internet and through other forms of interactive media.
27. Adapt and transfer the critical methods of the disciplines into unfamiliar contexts, including a variety of working environments.

Personal and key skills are delivered through all modules, and developed in lectures, workshops, study groups, tutorials, work experience and other learning activities throughout the programme.

The assessment of these skills is through a combination of presentations and participation in seminars, log-books, web-based assessments, essays, exams, other written reports/projects, and a dissertation or final proejct. C17-22 are also strongly developed in the course of the portfolio of assessed essays and other written work produced through the programme. These assessments work on the principle of offering formative feedback to support the development of your written work within as well as between modules. Feedback on one assignment is intended to inform the next piece of work you undertake on the module; the next piece of work on the programme, or the future learning of graduates.

C23 is associated especially with the range of group presentations taking place in modules during the programme and with the system of peer review in place on many Creative Writing modules.Group presentation assessment brings into focus an important range of skills for students, including sharing workloads, responsibility for tasks, team working, collaborative and communicative skills. Individual contributions to group work are also assessed individually, most often in the form of a reflective presentation report. C24 is accomplished in the course of formal assessments which occur through the programme as well as the final dissertation/project. C25 is embedded in all our modules. C26 is particularly related to the optional module ‘Humanities in the Workplace’, to the study abroad and/or employment experience variants of the programme and/or to the workplace-facing final project that may be taken in lieu of the traditional dissertation

 

7. Programme Regulations

Programme-specific Progression Rules

To progress to Stage 2 you must normally achieve an average mark of at least 50% in Stage 1. If you do not achieve an average mark of 50% in Stage 1, you will be interviewed to determine whether you can continue on the Employment Experience programme; if you do not succeed in that interview you will be required to transfer to the three-year programme. This is to ensure that only those students who are likely to succeed in their Employment Experience are selected. If you are unsuccessful in your application for Employment Experience, you will be transferred to the three-year programme.

HUM3997 Employment Experience Abroad counts as a single 120 credit module and is not condonable; you must pass this module to graduate with the degree title of BA English and Creative Writing with Employment Experience Abroad. If you fail the Employment Experience your degree title will be commuted to BA English and Creative Writing 

Classification

8. College Support for Students and Students' Learning

All students within the Department of English have a personal tutor for their entire programme of study, who is available to students for at least three hours a week at advertised ‘office hours’. There are induction sessions to orientate students at the start of their programme. A personal tutoring system will operate with regular communication throughout the programme. Academic support will be also be provided by module leaders. You can also make an appointment to see individual teaching staff.

9. University Support for Students and Students' Learning

10. Admissions Criteria

11. Regulation of Assessment and Academic Standards

12. Indicators of Quality and Standards

The programme is not subject to accreditation and/ or review by professional and statutory regulatory bodies (PSRBs).

13. Methods for Evaluating and Improving Quality and Standards

14. Awarding Institution

University of Exeter

15. Lead College / Teaching Institution

Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS)

16. Partner College / Institution

Partner College(s)

Not applicable to this programme

Partner Institution

Not applicable to this programme.

17. Programme Accredited / Validated by

0

18. Final Award

BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing with Employment Experience Abroad

19. UCAS Code

Not applicable to this programme.

20. NQF Level of Final Award

6 (Honours)

21. Credit

CATS credits ECTS credits

22. QAA Subject Benchmarking Group

[Honours] English

23. Dates

Origin Date

20/06/2019

 Date of last revision

15/06/2022